Baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson throws out the first pitch before the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on May 9, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson speaks to the media before the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on May 9, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Washington Nationals Frank Robinson

Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles (R) talks to Frank Robinson, former Orioles player and manager and honorary National League team captain during practice for the Major League All-Star game at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OH, 07 July. The All-Star Game will be held 08 July. (JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President George W. Bush shares a laugh with Nationals manager Frank Robinson before throwing out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at RFK Stadium April 14, 2005 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

U.S. President George W. Bush (R) congratulates baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson after presenting him with the medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House November 9, 2005 in Washington DC. President Bush presented medals to the 2005 Medal of Freedom recipients during a ceremony in the East Room. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Former Cleveland Indians manager and player Frank Robinson speaks during the unveiling of a new statue commemorating his career prior to the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field on May 27, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. Frank Robinson became the first African-American manager in Major League history on April 8, 1975, as a player-manager for the Indians.(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Sandy Koufax (L), the Hall of Fame Dodgers’ pitcher who makes infrequent public appearances, talks with fellow Hall of Fame member Frank Robinson (R) after they took the stage before induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, NY 26 July. Koufax and Robinson were among the 35 returning Hall of Fame members who attended the ceremonies. (HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

Frank Robinson (L), baseball’s fourth all time home run hitter, congratulates Hank Aaron (R) after the Hank Aaron award was unveiled before the start of the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies game at Turner Field in Atlanta, GA 08 April 1999. The award will be determined by the player’s combined numbers of hits, home runs and RBI and is scheduled to be presented to the best hitter in each league Championship Series. (STEVE SCHAEFER/AFP/Getty Images)

Frank Robinson, a trailblazer who forged his own path from the playgrounds of West Oakland to baseball immortality, died Thursday after a long battle with bone cancer. He was 83.

The Hall of Fame outfielder had been in hospice care for the past few months and passed away in Los Angeles, almost 45 years after he made baseball history by becoming its first African-American manager with the Cleveland Indians.

Robinson is mostly remembered in the Bay Area for managing the Giants from 1981-84, when he was the first African-American to manage in the National League.

But the long-legged, quick-wristed kid from McClymonds High with a chip on his shoulder remains perhaps baseball’s most overlooked superstar. In fact, when he was near the end of his managerial career in 2005 with the Washington Nationals, one of his players reportedly asked him if he had ever played the game.

Oh, did he ever.

A 14-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, Robinson finished his star-studded 21-year career with 586 home runs and remains the only major leaguer to win the MVP award in both the American and National leagues.

His former Baltimore Orioles teammate, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, once said Robinson was “the best player I ever saw.”

Robinson’s baseball legacy was cemented on a sunny, summer day in New York in 1982 when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. For a kid who had always fought to prove he was worthy, Robinson told those in attendance that even he couldn’t believe where his career had taken him.

“A young boy in Oakland, California playing on an asphalt baseball field, he didn’t dare dream, not even dare think … that he would one day be standing up here being inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Robinson said during his speech. “But it has happened. I thank the Lord for giving me the god-given talent to play the greatest game in this country.”

The A's are saddened to hear of the passing of McClymonds High grad, Hall of Famer, and baseball trailblazer Frank Robinson.

Frank played in the very first game hosted at the Coliseum on April 17, 1968 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Our thoughts are with his family. pic.twitter.com/yOWXV3C7a9

From the time Robinson burst into the major leagues with the Reds as a record-setter in 1956 until he finished his managerial career with the Nationals in 2006, he had spent 50 years in uniform. Coupled with his time working in the Commissioner’s office, Robinson had worked in baseball for more than 60 years.

“Frank Robinson’s resume in our game is without parallel, a trailblazer in every sense, whose impact spanned generations,” Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by this loss of our friend, colleague and legend.”

Frank Robinson and I were more than baseball buddies. We were friends.Frank was a hard nosed baseball player who did things on the field that people said could never be done.I’m so glad I had the chance to know him all of those years. Baseball will miss a tremendous human being.

The sometimes surly, often times superlative Robinson made an impact right away as a 20-year-old rookie with the 1956 Cincinnati Reds. The right fielder’s batting line was .290/.379/.558 for a .936 OPS. He also hit 38 home runs to set a National League rookie record that stood for 61 years until Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit 39 in 2017.

Robinson was named the National League Most Valuable Player in 1961 after hitting 37 home runs and driving in 124 runs and posting a 1.015 OPS for the Reds.

The Reds then seemed to test Robinson’s competitive juices when they traded him to the Orioles after the 1965 season, saying he “is an old 30.” A rejuvenated Robinson wasted no time in proving how wrong the Reds were.

All he did in his first year in Baltimore was win the American League MVP, capture the Triple Crown by hitting 49 homers, driving in 122 runs and batting .316, all while leading the Orioles to a world championship.

The man Orioles fans affectionately called “F. Robby” wound up playing 10 more seasons in the majors — five as an All-Star — while hitting 262 more home runs to finish with the fourth-most in MLB history when he finally retired at the end of the 1976 season. Not bad for a guy dismissed as too old a decade earlier.

While winding down his career in 1975 with the Indians, Robinson was hired as their player/manager. It was a bittersweet moment for Robinson. Just three years earlier, and nine days before he died, baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson talked about how he’d love to “look down the third base line and see a black man as manager.”

“The one wish I could have is that Jackie Robinson could be here today to see this happen,” Robinson said during a press conference after his hiring.

As someone accustomed to spectacular debuts, Robinson did it again on Opening Day in 1975. In his first game as manager, he inserted himself into the lineup as Cleveland’s designated hitter. Naturally, he smashed a home run off the Yankees’ Doc Medich in his first at-bat. It was his eighth opening-day home run, which remains an MLB record.

After his playing days were over, Robinson went on to manage the Giants, Orioles, Expos and Nationals during a 16-year managerial career that saw his teams go 1065-1176. He was the AL’s Manager of the Year in 1989.

In San Francisco, Robinson’s teams went just 264-277 and finished in third place in the NL West twice in four seasons. But it was also in San Francisco that Robinson’s aggressive nature was frequently on display.

One of the more memorable moments for Robinson came when he went to the mound to take pitcher Jim Barr out of the game. Barr dismissively flipped the ball to Robinson and began walking toward the dugout. An agitated Robinson quickly spun Barr around and, with finger wagging, chewed out his pitcher on the field.

The man some called “The Director of Discipline” wasn’t always the most loved manager, but he certainly earned the respect of many. Current Giants announcer Duane Kuiper, who played for Robinson in both Cleveland and San Francisco, said he was “the best manager I ever played for.”

Born in Beaumont, Texas, on Aug. 31, 1935, Robinson was the youngest of Ruth (Shaw) Robinson’s 10 children. By the time he was four, his father had left the family so his mother moved Frank and her other children to Oakland.

Growing up in a tenement on Myrtle Street in West Oakland, his family struggled to make ends meet. Robinson once joked his quickness came from being one of 10 kids. “If you weren’t quick, you didn’t eat,” he said.

Sports had also become a perfect way for the young Robinson to avoid the trouble that surrounded his neighborhood. The grittiness and aggressive style of play that Robinson came to be known for in the majors was also born on the playgrounds near his home.

Once, while sliding into second base to try to break up a double play, Robinson cut his leg and tore a hole in his pants, incurring the wrath of his mother in the process. As a testament to his tenacity, Robinson’s slide had come while he was playing on the asphalt.

He never owned his own baseball glove until he was 14. That was around the time Robinson’s talents really began to show while playing American Legion baseball. As a 14-year-old playing against mostly older kids, Robinson helped Bill Erwin Post 337 of Oakland win the first of its back-to-back national championships.

Later, under the guidance of famed Oakland youth coach George Powles, Robinson stood out despite being surrounded by greatness in the city. Consider that by the late 1960s two Oakland high schools just 2½ miles apart — McClymonds and Oakland Technical — had produced 29 major leaguers. His high school baseball team included future major leaguer Curt Flood. One of Robinson’s teammates on the McClymonds basketball team was Bill Russell, universally viewed as one of the top players in the history of the game.

“The neighborhood we lived in, you had to be tough,” Russell said recently. “I always remember Frank as being really smart and a tough guy.”

Months after the 1953 baseball season, Robinson, armed with a $3,500 signing bonus from the Reds, left Oakland to begin what would become the journey of a lifetime.

Robinson is survived by his wife, Barbara, and a daughter, Nichelle. No services were immediately announced.

In lieu of flowers, Robinson’s family asked that contributions in his name be made to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. or the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C.